Dalriada School and The Royal School Armagh went head to head on Wednesday afternoon, at Roughfort, after winning their respective Pools in the Schools U16 Trophy

The first half was fairly one sided with Armagh enjoying what looked like 90% of territory and possession.

The Royal School battered away at the Dalriada line for the bulk of the opening quarter but were unable to break down the Dalriada defenders, who threw themselves, with some gusto, into every contact situation.

However, it was the Ballymoney side that were first to trouble the scoreboard, in their first visit into the Armagh 22, when a kick ahead was chased down by Andrew Radcliffe for Paddy Cramsie to pick up the loose ball and gleefully dive over the line for the opening score. The conversion was missed but Dalriada would be happy with their return on visits to the red zone.

The game resumed with Armagh continuing to apply all the pressure but the Dalriada defence continued to hold firm and they were able to get some respite with big carries from captain Luke Stewart, who was prominent throughout the game, and the teams turned round with no further score, Dalriada leading 5 – 0.

Armagh came out with a more direct game in the second half and they reaped the rewards of a storming 10 minutes from replacement Thomas Dougan who drove hard for the line out on the left only to be held up a few feet short. The ball was taken on by prop Niall Conn who stretched for the line to tie the game.

Minutes later Dougan made the line himself and with Josh Lowey being awarded the extras Armagh were 5 – 12 in front and looked well set to close the game out.

Dalriada had other ideas and five minutes later they were down the other end of the pitch for Angus Graham to score but when Gabriel Stubbs-Carton‘s kick bounced back off the upright it looked as though it wasn’t going to be their day with the score now at 10 – 12 in Armagh’s favour and time running out!

In a tense finale it was Dalriada who remained cool and a series of penalties saw them back in Armagh territory as the clock ticked down. The pressure told and a final penalty in the Armagh 22 saw Stubbs-Carton step up to calmly slot over with winner with the final kick of the game.

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